PRINCIPALS COACHING AND WELLBEING SUPPORT FUND 2024 – PRINCIPAL’S STUDY TOUR

The news that all primary principals would be receiving a coaching and wellbeing support fund through the 2023-2025 collective agreement allowed principals to examine a range of options to develop their leadership through PLD that is tailored to their own individual needs.  Upon news of this funding, our emails were flooded with 1:1 coaching programmes, PLD workshops, wellbeing retreats and overseas conferences.  There have been many discussions across the sector for the 'proper' use of the fund, which when first released was heavily focussed on the well-being.  

To a certain degree, this offering has caused added stress to some principals because the goalposts moved from wellbeing to professional learning.  Initially, there needed to be more clarity on what's appropriate and what isn't.  There were different expectations between the now two unions and an element of resentment between the allowances given with the fund.

Through our Professional Growth Cycle sessions with Tautai o le Moana and talanoa around our professional needs regarding leadership, systems, cultural capacity, and educational change we were curious to know what is happening internationally in leadership sustainability.  There was a lot of rhetoric around the sustainability of leadership in our county, with many principals leaving the job within their first five years of leadership.  Is this an issue in other countries?  How has leadership changed?  What demands are making the role untenable?  

As a PLG group, we decided to go and find out, using our coaching fund to investigate what is happening on the West Coast of America and in Canada.  As a group we decided on an inquiry (and came up with 2 areas) to investigate and Nardi Leonard searched through her contacts in the states to line up chats with people from different walks of life in education and in the business sector to discuss our inquiry into Leadership sustainability and Indigineous education systems.  We also lined up a national conference in Saskatoon Canada for Physical and Health Education where we will be presenting 'Wellbeing through a Maori Lens'.

Whilst on this journey, we will be starting our collation of talanoa/korero/chats and delivering them through our Intrepid Journey: Principalship 101 podcast which we will link to this blog as we go.  We'll being diarising our travels, experiences, new learning and wonderings whilst on our tour.  You are welcome to follow our journey and hopefully gain some insights and a few little gems to help you along on your leadership journey.

Nga Manaakitanga

Michelle, Mary, Nardi





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